For The Swarm
by Abyssal Angel
Summary: Inspired by East Bridge's 'The Zerg Swarm'. Matthew Parasini wakes up to find himself with new unexpected powers in a very unexpected place. Rated M just in case. DISCLAIMER: If you recognize it, I don't own it! I only own myself. I'd like to keep it that way, thanks.
1. Chapter 1

Let me just start off this story by introducing myself. My name is Matthew Parasini. I'm 24 years old, male, 6'6", approximately 220 pounds, have a bit of a gut, I wear glasses, and I have big feet. I like to pretend that my gut is from my singing all my life, but in truth it's leftover from when I was a little shrimp of a kid and fairly overweight. I wouldn't say I'm all that handsome of a person, but I do have a bit of a rugged look going with my new beard. I'm also former military, honorable medical discharge. I'm not missing a limb or anything. I just have a lot of little problems that kinda stack up to one big problem, but I won't go there since it's not really important to the story. I used to live in Florida, United States, Earth. That's not really the case anymore, but I won't get ahead of myself. This story starts in a cave.

There's rock underneath my back. There's light streaming in my face and stinging my eyes. I think I can safely say I'm not in my apartment anymore. How did I get here though? Was I kidnapped?

Carefully, I listen to my surroundings. I don't hear anything other than the wind blowing into the cave and the rustling of leaves. No shadows from movement are passing over my eyes either. Cracking my eyes open a little, I glance around, ready to shut them and feign sleep in case my captor is nearby. No one is around.

Fully opening my eyes I glance around, taking in my surroundings. I'm in a small cave, and to my right is the opening and beyond that are lots and lots of trees. The rock underneath me is a bit chilly, and I shiver a little.

Quickly I take stock of myself. I don't feel any injuries and everything is in working order. I'm a little hungry, but I'm not even sore or anything. All I'm wearing is a pair of blue jeans, a green shirt, and my military boots. Nothing in my pockets unfortunately.

Standing up, I step out of the cave. As soon as the light of the sun hits me, a shiver runs up my spine and causes me to jolt a little bit as warmth floods me. Along with that warmth, knowledge floods my mind that can be summed up to these words.

_**OVERMIND**_

_Health-50/50_

_Psi-energy-100/100_

_Psi-Replenish-10pc(per cycle)_

_Control-10ucp(Units of Control Provided)_

_**Abilities**_

_Spawn Hatchery-100psi- 0:2:0 (Days:Hours:Minutes)-1ucp_

_**ZERG SWARM Lvl 0**_

_Bio-energy-0_

_Bio-replenish-0pc_

_Control used/provided-0/10uc_

_**Strains Available**_

_None_

_**SWARM COMPOSITION**_

_**Sentients**__-1_

_Overmind_

_**Underlings**__-0_

_**Vassals**__-0_

_**Allies**__-0_

_**REQUIREMENTS TO EVOLVE**_

_Hatchery_

I grasped my head and winced, trying not to scream as my brain pounded within my skull. Then suddenly, the pain disappeared, but the knowledge hadn't. I goggled at the ever present information available at the back of my mind, and I had to wonder if I'd gone insane or something. I mean, how can I be the Overmind of the Zerg Swarm? But I could sooner deny that I have two arms and legs. Whatever this information is, it's there, and it's there to stay.

Shaking my head, and hoping to preserve my sanity, I focus on my surroundings rather than the impossibility hanging in the back of my mind. It turns out focusing on my surroundings didn't help though. Belatedly I realized that I'm not wearing my glasses, but that hardly matters anymore. I can see so clearly that I can actually count the individual leaves, heck, I can count the individual VEINS on the leaves of the trees in front of me!

My hearing has also sharpened a lot as well. I can hear the babbling of water in a river over to the right that I hadn't heard while in the cave, and I can even tell that it's at least a ten minute walk away. I can also hear the snuffling of pigs here and there and the barking of wolves even further out. Oddly, I can here nothing else. No birds, no bugs, not that I'll complain about that last mind you. No other animals at all. How strange.

Thankfully my sense of smell, touch, and taste doesn't seem to have changed, though that last I can't really tell until I eat something I guess. Speaking of eating, my hunger seems to have dulled considerably. I'm not sure what to make of that, but I am still hungry at least.

Following my ears, I made my way towards the river for a drink. Pushing past the trees, I finally broke out into a rather large clearing. Now that I'm in a clearing, I can finally see the position of the sun, which tells me that it's either early morning or late evening. Considering the chill in the air, I'm going to go for morning.

On the other side of the clearing is the river. It's not as big as I'd expected, more of a stream really. It's about two meters wide and a meter deep at most in places, and winds off into the trees. The water is startlingly clear. I can see all the way to the bottom. Scooping out a handful I carefully inspect it for floaters. Satisfied, I drink it down. It tastes like purified water. I'd prefer to boil it to be sure it's pure, but I don't have much choice at the moment.

Having drunk my fill, I sit back and sweep my gaze around the clearing. Still no noise from anything except from pigs and wolves that are really far off. It's getting a little creepy actually. That part of me that is the Overmind automatically judges the clearing big enough for a Hatchery and then some.

Shrugging, I make my way to the center of the clearing and place my hands on the ground. Before I can start to question my sanity, I speak aloud in my mind, 'Spawn Hatchery.' As soon as I'd finished thinking the words, a rush of energy shot out of my body through my hands, leaving me feeling fatigued, but not tired. More of a mental weariness.

Something pushes up against my hands. Pulling them away, a small pulsing sac of fluid meets my gaze. I look at it, astonished. While part of me may have been expecting it, the skeptic in me can hardly believe my eyes. I can visibly see it getting bigger too.

Carefully, I gently brush my finger against the membrane of the Zerg Cocoon. To my surprise, the little thing actually leans into the touch, and I can hear a crooning noise in the back of my mind from the little thing. Along with the sound comes more instinctual information, mainly a countdown till completion, and the option to cancel its creation.

All that pales to the raw feelings I'm getting from my new little hatchery though. The closest thing I can liken it to is the feeling you get when a cat purrs when you pet it. It's broadcasting warmth and contentment at me, and I can't help but soak it up like a sponge.

The next two hours pass by in a blur as I set cross legged next to my Hatchery and pet it, soaking up the approval and contentment the action is causing that it's broadcasting back to me. I could literally do this all day, but I keep having to stop and back up since it's still getting bigger and bigger. It doesn't take long at all before the egg is towering over me.

Finally, the skin of the egg splits open from the Hatchery pushing out. The egg seems to dissolve before my eyes as the Hatchery absorbs it into itself. Stepping back, I admire the Hatchery, glad that it looks more like the its counterpart from Starcraft Broodwar rather than Starcraft II. I'm not too fond of the looks of the Zerg buildings in Starcraft II. The entire building is pulsating like a giant breathing lung, and it's roughly four stories tall. The tusks set into the corners of the building tower a full story above the Hatchery, lending it an air of danger to the entire thing. As for the color, I'm pleasantly surprised. Rather than purple or pink, the entire thing is in shades of black with red highlights, making the building much cooler looking than usual.

Looking down, I watch the creep as it spreads out over the ground like water in slow motion. As it reaches my feet, I hold still, curious to see if it'll flow around my feet. Instead it grows under, lifting me up a few inches off the ground. While the Creep finishes growing, the information on the Swarm automatically updates itself.

_**ZERG SWARM Lvl 1**_

_Bio-energy-100_

_Bio-replenish-100pc_

_Control used/provided-0/11_

_**Strains Available**_

_Larvae-0be(bio-energy)-0:0:1-3 Per Hatchery-25hp-10armor_

_Drone-50be-0:20:0-1ucr(Units of Control Required)-40hp-5ga(ground attack)_

_Overlord-100be-0:40:0-8ucp_

_**Buildings Available**_

_Hatchery-300be-2:0:0-1ucp-1250hp-800 m creep gen_

_Extractor-50be-0:40:0-750hp_

_Creep Colony-75be-0:20:0-500hp-500 m creep gen_

_Evolution Chamber-75be-0:40:0-750hp_

_Spawning Pool-200be-1:20:0-750hp_

_**SWARM COMPOSITION**_

_**Sentients**__-1_

_Overmind_

_**Underlings**__-1_

_Hatchery_

_**Vassals**__-0_

_**Allies**__-0_

_**REQUIREMENTS TO EVOLVE**_

_Spawning Pool_

Well that's just great I guess. Seems I really am the Overmind. I think I'm finally starting to accept that. Kinda hard not to, what with having a huge freaking Zerg Hatchery sitting in front of me. This is way too crazy.

Curious, I wander into the closest entrance to the Hatchery. The smell is a little weird, kind of a cross between gum and water. It's not a bad smell, but not a great one either. Just something to get used to I guess. Walking further in, I wind up in a central chamber. It's kind of domed with ridges on the walls. There's a pit filled with glowing whitish green goo in the center. Thankfully it has a lip so the chances of falling in while I'm asleep are low. Something tells me I should avoid touching it. There's an opening on the top of the chamber as well.

Wandering back outside, I notice to my alarm, that the trees touched by the creep are visibly wilting. I'd been worried that might be the case, since the Starcraft manual did say Creep is harmful to the environment. Well, as Overmind, that'll be one of the first things to change. Symbiotic relationships always work better in the long run than parasitic ones. The only problem I have to figure out is how to change that. I've a feeling the Evolution Chamber will help me out with that. I'm starting to think these feelings I'm getting are from the part of me that's the Overmind.

Well, gotta start somewhere I guess. Now where are those larva? Oh there they are. I can feel them within the walls of the Hatchery. I think they'll only pop out once I'm ready to morph them into something. That's convenient. I order two of the larva to morph into Drones. Just like that, two larva pop out of the Hatchery closest to me. I watch, fascinated, as they curl up into a donut shape, then their outer skin balloons into a Zerg Egg.

Just like with the Hatchery, I spend the twenty minutes until they hatch petting the membrane of the eggs. The fledging drones within seem to enjoy this immensely, and I can't help but smile at the feelings they're projecting at me. I'm really starting to love being the Overmind if this is the kind of feelings that I can expect to get from the whole of the Swarm. I've never felt such a sense of belonging before. I could seriously get used to this.

Finally, the eggs split open as the Drones push out of them, shattering the eggs until the Drones just absorb the membrane and liquid into themselves. As expected, the Drones look like a cross between a dragon and a scorpion, with a lizard tail, scorpion graspers, and dragon like wings. Finally I can satisfy my curiosity and drop down to the ground to peer underneath the drones.

I'd been expecting to see hundreds of little legs to give the appearance of gliding over the ground, but to my surprise, they really do glide over the ground like a snake with their bellies on the ground. No wonder their tails waggle back and forth when they move! I would've been less surprised if they hovered a few inches above the ground like some people had theorized.

With no more bio-energy left to create anything else, I order the drones to gather up the wilted trees to create space for more buildings. I'm going to need to create an Evolution Chamber first so no more trees are destroyed. Most life needs oxygen to live after all, and I'd rather be known as a benevolent Overmind rather than a plague on the Universe. I have my own moral standards to uphold after all and those do not include slowly wiping out species through a lowered T-Score.

With nothing left to do, I idly watch as the Drones pull the withered trees up out of the ground for the creep to grow over the uncovered spots. I followed them back into the Hatchery and watch as they dropped the trees into the pool, where they dissolved into nothing as soon as they touched the liquid. I'm now doubly glad that I decided not to touch the stuff.

Interestingly, each withered tree they're dropping in is giving me 2-3be. I guess it depends on how withered they are. The more withered, the less bio-energy I get. Makes me wonder what a whole live tree would give me? For the sake of curiosity I ordered my two drones to travel past the creep to unearth one just to find out. It took both of them tugging and pulling to get the tree out, and they ended up leaving most of the roots behind. I resolved not to do that again. The live tree did give me 5 bio-energy though.

While my Drones continued to gather more of the withered up trees, I spent my time getting some more water, then climbed up to the top of the Hatchery to take a good look around. Trees as far as the eye can see. There are a few hills, and it looks like there might be some mountains in the far distance, but mostly all I can see are trees. I'm in the middle of a freaking huge forest. Great. I seriously need to get an Overlord so that I can have it scout around. Maybe that way, I'll be able to find out what kind of forest doesn't have bugs and birds, or any other animal besides pigs and wolves.

By midday, I'd created four more Drones to pull up more trees. At the rate they're going, it'll probably take them a full 24 hours nonstop working to clear the rest of the dying trees off of the creep. I watched idly as the Drones worked, and watched with interest as the Drones stopped for a moment and ripped up a piece of the creep to eat it. I'm starting to get hungry again since all I've had so far is water to drink. In equal parts hunger and curiosity, I climb down the Hatchery and pull up my own piece of Creep.

The creep feels a bit rubbery. Taking a sniff, it doesn't really smell like anything. Shrugging, I put the stuff to the test to see if it might be edible. Rubbing my lips against it, no burning or bad sensations. I already smelled it and it doesn't smell bad. I take a tentative lick. It tastes like sugar gum. Biting off a small piece, I chew it slowly. Still no burning or bad sensations. The taste hasn't changed. Nothing else to suggest it might be bad. Swallowing, I wait to see if my stomach rejects it or not. After a few minutes, I shrug and eat the rest. It only takes the small chunk I'd pulled up to make me feel full. The taste leaves much to be desired, but at least I won't be going hungry.

As the day goes by, I end up making up to eleven Drones. Unfortunately I can't make anymore. I was curious to see what would happen if I tried to make more anyway, but all attempts to coax the larva to build more did nothing. I might as well have been asking a puppy do rocket science for all the good it did me.

Still, it didn't take long before I had enough for an Overlord. Ordering up one of those, by the time it finished growing, I had enough for an evolution chamber as well, and just enough room for one too. I ordered a drone to morph into one, and then turned my attention to the Overlord. To my disappointment, the Overlord isn't sentient as I'd hoped it would be. It takes orders easily enough and can handle micromanaging the drones, but it acts more like a highly intelligent animal than anything else.

I pump out two more Overlords, and the Evolution Chamber has finished by the time the sun starts to set. The chill in the air is coming back, so I order an Overlord to float nearby and I grab onto one of its long tendrils and order it to drop me off on the ground. Technically it shouldn't be able to pick up and drop off units yet, but I'm also cheating since it's not actually storing me into itself, I'm just hanging off of it.

Making my way into the Hatchery and settling down against the wall inside, I watch as the light from outside wanes more and more. Finally, night falls, and with it, everything changes.

-Chapter End Review-

**OVERMIND**

Health-50/50

Psi-energy-0/100

Psi-Replenish-10pc

Control-10ucp

**Abilities**

Spawn Hatchery-100psi-2hours-1ucp

**ZERG SWARM Lvl 1**

Bio-energy-53

Bio-replenish-100pc

Control used/provided-10/35

**Strains Available**

Larvae-0be-0:0:1-3 Per Hatchery-25hp-10armor

Drone-50be-0:20:0-1ucr-40hp-5ga

Overlord-100be-0:40:0-8ucp

**Buildings Available**

Hatchery-300be-2:0:0-1ucp-1250hp-800 m creep gen

Extractor-50be-0:40:0-750hp

Creep Colony-75be-0:20:0-500hp-500 m creep gen

Spore Colony-50be-0:20:0-400hp-15aa-700mr

Evolution Chamber-75be-0:40:0-750hp

Spawning Pool-200be-1:20:0-750hp

**SWARM COMPOSITION**

**Sentients**-1

Overmind

**Underlings**-15

Hatchery

Evolution Chamber

3 Overlords

10 Drones

**Vassals**-0

**Allies**-0

**REQUIREMENTS TO EVOLVE**

Spawning Pool

A/N - Just fixed a few typos I spotted and changed the format a little.


	2. Zerg Information Sheet ver 3

Key- be:bio-energy; ucr:Units of Control Required; ucp:Units of Control Provided; 0:0:0=Hours:Minutes:Seconds; hp: health points; ga:Ground Attack; aa:Air Attack; mr:meter range

**ZERG UNITS**

**LEVEL 1**

Larvae-0be-0:1:0-3 Per Hatchery/Lair/Hive-25hp-10armor

Drone-50be-0:20:0-1ucr-40hp-5ga

Overlord-100be-0:40:0-8ucp

Zergling-50be for 2-0:30:0-1ucr for 2-35hp-5ga

Hydralisk-125be-0:40:0-1ucr-80hp-10ga-10aa-400mr

**LEVEL 2**

Scourge-175be for 2-0:30:0-1ucr for 2-25hp-110aa

Queen-300be-0:50:0-2ucr-120hp

Mutalisk-300be-0:40:0-2ucr-120hp-9:3:1ga/aa-300mr

**LEVEL 3**

Guardian-250be-0:40:0-2ucr-150hp-20ga-800mr

Ultralisk-600be-1:0:0-6ucr-400hp-20ga

Defiler-350be-0:50:0-2ucr-80hp

**ZERG BUILDINGS**

**LEVEL 1**

Hatchery-300be-2:0:0-1ucp-1250hp-800 m creep gen

Extractor-50be-0:40:0-750hp

Creep Colony-75be-0:20:0-500hp-500 m creep gen

Evolution Chamber-75be-0:40:0-750hp

Spore Colony-50be-0:20:0-400hp-15aa-700mr

Spawning Pool-200be-1:20:0-750hp

Sunken Colony-50be-0:20:0-300hp-40ga-700mr

Hydralisk Den-200be-0:40:0-850hp

**LEVEL 2**

Lair-350be-1:40:0-1ucp-1800hp-900 m creep gen

Spire-500be-2:0:0-600hp

Queens Nest-300be-1:0:0-850hp

**LEVEL 3**

Hive-500be-2:0:0-1ucp-2500hp-1 km creep gen

Greater Spire-400be-2:0:0-1000hp

Defiler Mound-300be-1:0:0-850hp

Ultralisk Cavern-550be-1:20:0-600hp

Nydus Canal-150be-0:40:0-250hp

**ZERG RESEARCH**

**LEVEL 1**

Hatchery – Burrow – 300be – 0:1:20

Spawning Pool – Zergling Metabolic Boost – 300be – 0:1:20

Hydralisk Den – Hydralisk Muscular Augments – 450be – 0:1:20

Hydralisk Den – Hydralisk Grooved Spines – 450be – 0:1:20

Evolution Chamber – Ground Melee Attacks lvl 1 – 300be – 0:4:26

Evolution Chamber – Ground Missile Attacks Lvl 1 – 300be – 0:4:26

Evolution Chamber – Ground Carapace Armor Lvl 1 – 450be – 0:4:26

**LEVEL 2**

Lair – Overlord Ventral Sacs – 600be – 0:2:0

Lair – Overlord Antennae – 450be – 0:2:13

Lair – Overlord Pnuematized Carapace – 450be – 0:2:13

Evolution Chamber – Ground Melee Attacks Lvl 2 – 450be – 0:4:58

Evolution Chamber – Ground Missile Attacks Lvl 2 – 450be – 0:4:58

Evolution Chamber – Ground Carapace Armor Lvl 2 – 675be – 0:4:58

Spire – Flyer Attacks Lvl 1– 300be – 0:4:26

Spire – Flyer Attacks Lvl 2 – 525be – 0:4:58

Spire – Flyer Carapace Armor Lvl 1 – 450be – 0:4:26

Spire – Flyer Carapace Armor Lvl 2 – 675be – 0:4:58

Queen's Nest – Queen Ability Ensnare – 75psi – 300be – 0:1:20

Queen's Nest – Queen Ability Spawn Broodlings – 150psi – 300be – 0:1:20

Queen's Nest – Queen Gamete Melosis – 450be – 0:2:46

**LEVEL 3**

Spawning Pool – Zergling Adrenal Glands – 600be – 0:1:20

Evolution Chamber – Ground Melee Attacks Lvl 3 – 600be – 0:5:30

Evolution Chamber – Ground Missile Attacks Lvl 3 – 600be – 0:5:30

Evolution Chamber – Ground Carapace Armor Lvl 3 – 900be – 0:5:30

Spire – Flyer Attacks Lvl 3 – 750be – 0:5:30

Spire – Flyer Carapace Armor Lvl 3 – 900be – 0:5:30

Defiler Mound – Defiler Ability Plague – 150psi – 600be – 0:1:20

Defiler Mound – Defiler Ability Consume - +50psi – 300be – 0:1:20

Defiler Mound – Defiler Metasynaptic Node – 450be – 0:2:46

Ultralisk Cavern – Ultralisk Chitinous Plating – 450be – 0:2:13

Ultralisk Cavern – Ultralisk Anabolic Synthesis – 600be – 0:2:13

**ZERG SPECIAL UNITS**

Cerebrate Lvl 1 – 1000be/100 Larvae – 720:0:0

Cerebrate Specialized – Unknown - Unknown


	3. Chapter 2

Remember how I mentioned that everything changed once night set? I wasn't kidding. I watched in dumbfounded shock through the eyes of my Overlords as the sun set, and the rising of the moon, monsters started popping up everywhere.

Not just any monsters though, no it had to be Zombies, lots and lots of Zombies. A literal horde just popped up out of nowhere with the rising of the moon. It gets even better though. Walking skeletons are with them, skeletons with glowing red eyes and wielding bows. You might start to see where this is going. I can see gigantic spiders in the trees as well.

None of that compares to the reason I recalled all my Drones into the Hatchery though. Creepers. They're everywhere. Stone arrows and grasping biting Zombies might as well be push overs, but walking kamikaze bombs? Yeah, I got my Drones back into the Hatchery in a heartbeat.

As if all that isn't bad enough, there's a handful of Endermen out and about too, and they're all freaking out trying to get at my Overlords, making those awful screeches! I HATE the noise the Endermen make. Freaks me the hell out! And thanks to these new ears of mine, I can hear them. All of them. My only consolation is that none of them have popped into the Hatchery itself, but I have a feeling it's only a matter of time.

Minecraft! Why'd it have to be Minecraft!? Starcraft I can handle, but MINECRAFT!? Not only is this absolutely ridiculous, but it explains so much too! You wouldn't hear bugs or birds or other animals in a forest of Minecraftia because there AREN'T ANY! It also explains why I just popped up here out of freaking nowhere too. New World generated MY ARSE!

Ok… gotta calm down. Calm down… BOOM!

Oh great. It seems the Creepers are treating my buildings as one giant creature and are starting to ram my Hatchery with their explosive selves. Wait, they're only doing 50 damage per explosion? How the heck does that work?

Having an Overlord angle itself so it can see the spot where the last Creeper explode, I watched in surprise as the Hatchery knitted itself back up near instantaneously, but the information it's giving me still says that it's HP is 50 less, though it is regenerating? That would suggest that HP is more of an energy source used to heal rather than an actual counter of health.

You know, that actually explains a lot. I always thought it a little ridiculous that a Siege Tank wouldn't just blow a hole into the side of a Zerg building in one shot, but after taking away so much HP, the building will start to bleed a bit, before it finally ruptures in on itself. At least that way, HP and physics can actually work together, rather than running completely contradictory.

I'm getting distracted though. With my Hatchery having 1250 HP total, so long as it doesn't get hit by 125 Creepers all at once, then it should be ok. Considering the Creepers only seem to be coming one every half a minute or more, the Hatchery should be able to pull through. I don't want to take any chances though, so I start to formulate a plan to slow down the Creeper advance.

Unfortunately, I don't have any cats, so that's out. Luckily, there's still a way. If there's one thing you can rely on with Creepers its sheer stupidity. If I can pile up something around my Hatchery, then the thing'll just sit there and stare so long as they can't hop over it. Unfortunately, I'm limited there too. Anything I could pile up, like the withered trees for example, would require approaching the ground. I really don't want to send my Drones out there, and with the Endermen doing their level best to swarm onto my Overlords, I can't use them either.

Then again, it might not matter. What the heck could an Enderman do to an Overlord anyway? All it does is bite, teleport, and have an extreme case of kleptomania. It doesn't explode, so maybe the Overlord will be ok? Sending only one towards the deadened trees as a test, I have it start gathering them up. Immediately, the Endermen use the nearby trees as launching points to Swarm onto the Overlord. As expected, nothing's really happening…

My eyes nearly fell out as the Overlord suddenly gave a death cry and collapsed to the ground, dissolving into nothing while being absorbed by the Creep. Those sick bastards… one of the Endermen teleported _into_ the Overlord, grabbed a hold of its brain and _yanked. _That takes kleptomania to a whole new sick level, and the rest of the Overlords watched as the Enderman still hanging onto the large chunk of Overlord brain resumed the charge to get at the others. No way in hell am I trying that again, and now I have a whole new reason to be freaked out by the Endermen. Lovely.

Unfortunately, I can't think of anything else to try. Or at least, nothing I can try that I won't do unless there's no other choice. Hunkering down, I can only wince in empathy and helplessness as the Hatchery takes blow after blow. I do note, with interest, that each time a Creeper blows up, the Creep is destroyed, absorbing the blow and leaving the ground underneath alone, only for the Creep to just grow back as usual.

Actually, observing the Creep has given me a few ideas. Mentally contacting the Hatchery, I try to order it to grow a shield of Creep over its skin. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the biological capability to do that. Just another thing I'm going to need to change it seems.

That leaves my second idea. Scrapping the previous idea, I order the Hatchery to stimulate the growth of the Creep nearest to the Hatchery to extreme levels. Thankfully, it can and does so. Crossing my fingers, I watch as a ring of creep close to the Hatchery pulsates rapidly, building up higher and higher. It's working! The downside though is that the rest of the Creep outside that circle is degenerating.

I watch in sadness and anger as the degenerating Creep leaves the Evolution Chamber behind. The building is already almost dead from the Creepers anyway, but being forced to sacrifice it like that… it's a living breathing creature. It's a pitiful thing to watch as it slowly wilts and gets rocked back and forth from explosions. Finally, with one last shudder, the Evolution Chamber implodes and dissolves. I honestly don't know what to feel right now. Silent tears are streaming down my face, but my insides feel cold and empty. The gambit worked. The rest of the monsters can't get past the barrier of Creep, and the Endermen are still too focused on trying to singlemindedly get at my Overlords to do anything else, but it was too high a cost. Much too high.

I won't be getting any sleep tonight. Not with the Endermen constantly shrieking like that. I contemplate ordering the Overlord to move off and drag the Endermen with it, but then a different Endermen might not get caught in the trap of singlemindedly pursuing the Overlords and enter the Hatchery, and I can't have that. They're the only things that can at least. All the entrances to the Hatchery sealed off as soon as the monsters started appearing.

At least the wall of Creep is working. Belatedly I realize this is really going to screw up my bio-energy income, having the Creep formed up like this. Nothing I can do about it now unfortunately. You can bet I'm going to be militarizing the heck out of the Swarm come morning, but until then, I can only hunker down whilst a pair of Drones press into my sides while I pet them, and wait for morning to come.

I think I'm going nuts with how long I've had to listen to the shrieks of those Endermen. I may have shouted back once or twice. I can't remember. I'm so fatigued its ridiculous. Strangely, the Shrieks have been going on so long that I've actually been able to tune them out a little bit, despite how creepy and scary they sound. See? They're seemingly getting quieter already!

No wait, they really are getting quieter. They're teleporting off to who knows where. Why are they doing that? I look through my Overlord's eyes to determine the reason. Ah that explains it.

Morning has come.

-Chapter End Review-

**OVERMIND**

Health-50/50

Psi-energy-10/100

Psi-Replenish-10pc

Control-10ucp

**Abilities**

Spawn Hatchery-100psi-2hours-1ucp

**ZERG SWARM Lvl 1**

Bio-energy-125

Bio-replenish-100pc

Control used/provided-10/27

**Strains Available**

Larvae-0be-0:0:1-3 Per Hatchery-25hp-10armor

Drone-50be-0:20:0-1ucr-40hp-5ga

Overlord-100be-0:40:0-8ucp

**Buildings Available**

Hatchery-300be-2:0:0-1ucp-1250hp-800 m creep gen

Extractor-50be-0:40:0-750hp

Creep Colony-75be-0:20:0-500hp-500 m creep gen

Spore Colony-50be-0:20:0-400hp-15aa-700mr

Evolution Chamber-75be-0:40:0-750hp

Spawning Pool-200be-1:20:0-750hp

**SWARM COMPOSITION**

**Sentients**-1

Overmind

**Underlings**-13

1 Hatchery

2 Overlords

10 Drones

**Vassals**-0

**Allies**-0

**REQUIREMENTS TO EVOLVE**

Spawning Pool

A/N - Just fixed a few typos I spotted and changed the format a little. Unfortunately I added the Author's Notes after the fact so I accidentally erased a reply to DalintyMan's Review, so I'll have to retype what I can remember of it.

DalintyMan - Kudos to you for recognizing the Spore reference from Chapter 1. Hopefully my explanation of HP for this story makes sense to you. As for the low time requirements, I'm trying to make the Zerg Swarm as realistic as possible, and I feel that fast build times for the penultimate evolutionary race is only natural, especially when competing against Protoss who only have to step through a Warpgate already armed to the teeth, and Terrans who only have to stand still in an assembly line and have the armor built around them. Iron man can do it in seconds. Tychus Findley can do it in a minute. Zerg have to keep up with that and they do, and then some. Hence, they must grow up super fast. That's my take on it anyway. As for no SC2 Units, there's an explanation for that, but that'll be in the story later, so no spoilers. Besides, Mr. Parasini is well aware of SC2 and he can recreate those units if he wishes.


	4. Chapter 3

**Dawn of the Second Day**

**-12 hours till nightfall remain-**

Morning has come. Morning has come and all that implies. I watch in vengeful glee as all the Zombies and Skeletons burst into flames and stumble around looking for shade from the sun. All of the Endermen abruptly disappear, teleporting sporadically away. The giant spiders which had been aggressively roaming everywhere, even crawling on the Hatchery to find a way in, are now sitting docile and slowly meandering back to the trees. The only things left are the Creepers.

I will have to blame what happened next on not having slept in 24 hours, or however long a Minecraft day is. I certainly feel like I've been awake for over 24 hours. My body and mind don't deal very well with being forced to cope with extreme exhaustion. Tack on stress and a desire for revenge to that, and you get the decision to have the Overlords punt Creepers with their tentacles. I climbed to the top of the Hatchery to watch and see for myself, laughing maniacally and occasionally yelling out "FOUR!" or "IT'S GOOD!"

Yeah… I really need some sleep before I do anything else crazy… At least watching those stupid things getting launched into near orbit cheered me up some. Visibly reigning myself in, I turned my attention to the Swarm. I really need to get some defenses up pronto. First things first, I order my Drones to go finish collecting up trees. Sadly, the trees on the Creep are looking just about withered and dead, so I doubt they'll give me much bio-energy than yesterday. I seriously need to find a viable source of income and soon.

Before I can even contemplate what to do next, I hear a distressed noise from my Drones in the back of my mind. I turn towards them and abruptly face palm. I'd forgotten to order the Hatchery to lower the wall of Creep, and the Drones are circling the perimeter trying to find a way out in order to follow my gathering orders. I should've taken care of that first before anything else, so I feel a bit dumb on top of being exhausted now. Yay.

Mentally ordering the Hatchery to redistribute the Creep, I turn my attention to my Overlords and order them to take control of the reforming of the Creep wall during times of danger, as well as taking it down during peace time. I love Overlords. While it would've been nice to have someone to talk to, at least they follow orders to the letter so long as it's something the Swarm is capable of. They're like giant floating adaptable bio computers. Maybe the longer they stay alive, perhaps they'll develop personalities? I'd already tried ordering them to talk to me, but all I could hear are those weird noises that sound like an Elephant saying 'blegh!' and 'blargh!' Weird. Now I suddenly want to hear one say 'Honk!'

Once again bringing my brain to task from the distraction, I grimace as the first of the mostly dead trees are dropped into the Hatchery. They're only giving me 1-2 Bio-energy now. They're definitely not worth having my Drones gather up now. Heck, some of them are falling over on their own and the Creep is growing over them, absorbing them to the point where you wouldn't have even known they were there. I wish I could get the bio-energy immediately rather than once every day. At this rate, all I'm going to be able to rely on for bio-energy is the Creep itself. I honestly can't think of anything for my Drones to gather to supplement my bio-energy income. Considering I'm now only sitting at 140 bio-energy and climbing, that's not good at all, and I don't dare use that bio-energy up yet until I decide what to do with it.

Come on! Think! I know Minecraft like that back of my hand! What kind of things are here that I could have my Drones collect? The monsters themselves might work, but until I find a way to neutralize the Creepers and Endermen, mob farming isn't a viable option, though the idea of building some kind of water slide into one of the Entrances of the Hatchery for Zombies and Skeletons to slide down into does amuse me. If not for water not being infinite in reality, I'd contemplate doing just that. At least an infinite water source has to be good for the bio-energy income right? I mean, all living things are mostly composed of water and minerals…

Minerals… Maybe… if I had my Drones start mining for rock and other minerals like iron and coal, that might count towards bio-energy? The Creep is already leaching minerals out of the ground after all. Pushing my mind towards an Overlord, I quickly take control of its movement and sight functions. I'm honestly surprised at how easy it is. I figured since an Overlord's body is nothing like my own, that I'd spend most of the time flailing about as I try to figure out how to fly the thing. That's why I didn't try to do this last night in case I caused the Overlord to collapse into the ground and get swarmed, instead relying on commanding them where to move and transmit what they see to me. Ironically, the collective transmitted vision of the entire Swarm, particularly the Overlords, isn't that different from the map screen of the original Starcraft, just a heck of a lot more detailed and coming in from multiple perspectives to make one conclusive whole.

Still, I expected it to take a while before I got used to controlling an Overlord directly. One doesn't expect to hop into a plane and become an expert pilot immediately after all, yet that's exactly what this is. Flying the Overlord and controlling its movements feels completely natural, like they're coming to me through instinct. It wouldn't surprise me if that's exactly what's happening, since I've already got instinctual information coming to me from the side I've dubbed 'The Overmind' part of me. As soon as any question I have about the Swarm enters my head, I automatically already know the answer. It's extremely convenient for not having to worry about how the Swarm can do things, though I have yet to actually get any technical answers, like how exactly the Creep harvests bio-energy. The answer I got seemed to sum up to 'It just does'.

Speaking of bio-energy, I'm getting distracted again! Refocusing on the Overlord, I fly off in a random direction, looking for an open ground rock formation. With 360 degree vision and the ability to see for at least a mile, I quickly find what I'm looking for, and order a Drone to go collect some rock. Can't be much harder to collect rock than it is to cut apart and collect hardened crystal.

While the Drone is slicing up the rock, I make myself more familiar with the Overlord's abilities. Being sensors in the original Starcraft, I looked for some sort of function that would allow me to see the invisible. Almost immediately, creatures began to be highlighted in my, the Overlord's, vision. It reminds me of eagle vision from Assassin's Creed a little bit, though the Overlord's senses don't dim the world, just bring the creatures into sharper focus and make them glow blue or red depending on if they're passive or aggressive towards the Swarm.

Playing around with this ability, I spy out a couple cave entrances that some mobs are lurking in just outside of the sun. There's even an open air chasm just a ways north in the direction of those mountains in the distance. Obviously I don't have my Overlord actually go anywhere near any areas of darkness. I'm not about to lose another one.

My playing around with the Overlord is interrupted by my bio-energy jumping up by five. Evidently collecting up that rock is a very viable source of income and I immediately order my Overlords to have the Drones do some landscaping, flattening out the land and making it even with the clearing that my creep is on, and in so doing collecting up rocks and dirt to drop off into the Hatchery. I note with some skepticism that both rock and dirt give five bio-energy. I would've figured there'd be differences in the amount or something since rock and dirt have very different compositions. Still, I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

I contemplated just having the Drones strip mine an area nearby, but I don't want to give mobs any more spots to spawn in. Speaking of which, how the heck does that work? I get how spawning works in a video game, but how the heck do monsters simply appear just because the area is dark? That doesn't make any feasible sense! But then again, neither do walking skeletons that shoot arrows at you.

I simply have to cheer when the Drones come across a nearby large flat rise of ground to the west of the Hatchery. Flattening that down should take days if not weeks, and just like that I have my main source of income. My bio-energy is certainly rising quite nicely again, and I quickly top out my Drones at 27 since that's all the control I have available at the moment.

Before I can do anything else, my stomach rumbles. Pulling back from the Overlord that I'd been having fly up to confirm if the planet I'm on is flat or round, idly noting that the planet's horizon has a curve so I can safely say its round, I regard my hunger in surprise. I'd been so busy I'd not thought about it, but I hadn't really eaten since yesterday and I'm only just now getting hungry again? The Creep really must be filling to have lasted nearly an entire day on one meal. Pulling up a new piece of creep, I eat it as I watch the hole I made get filled in once more. That never gets old. It looks so cool!

Now with an income to speak of, I turn towards the expansion of the Swarm. As soon as the funds and larvae are available, I spawn in four more Overlords, bringing my total to six by mid afternoon. I'd spent far too much time flying around and playing as an Overlord really. I should've gotten started on this a while ago. I'm starting to nod off on my feet too. Not good.

Learning from my mistake with the Evolution chamber, I consider what to do about protecting the Swarm. I need new buildings, but I can't without either a way to take out the monsters from a distance, or removing their spawning territory with light. Surely the Swarm must've consumed something with bioluminescence at some point? Unfortunately, without an Evolution Chamber, that thought is moot point.

With no ideas forth coming, I spawn out more Drones to increase my income further, topping out at my supply limit once more with 59 Drones. With the amount of income I'm pulling, and larvae spawning every minute, it only takes me roughly half an hour. With this many Drones out collecting resources, a traffic jam of sorts is starting to make itself known with the Drones. Best way to fix that is to make a new Hatchery. With the income I'm already pulling in, I don't even have to wait long to do just that, sitting it within the clearing made by the Creep since there aren't any nearby clearings large enough to set another Hatchery up in.

With the Hatchery on the way, I order up another Drone to replace that one, and then contemplate what to do next. I really need more buildings, but with the night slowly but steadily creeping forward, I need defenses more. Hydralisks would be really nice right about now. Mutalisks even more so. A few ideas cross my mind. What if I put a ring of Creep colonies around my Hatcheries that are just wide enough spaced for an ultralisk to squeeze through, and then have the Creep colonies form a ring wall around the hive itself rather than just the Hatchery?

The idea has a lot of merit, but before I can think to put it in action, I realize the snag. Even with a wall up, that wouldn't prevent the monsters from just spawning inside of the walls. I really need a light source. Unfortunately fire won't last long enough. I don't know how to make a proper torch that'll last a few hours, let alone a torch that'll burn indefinitely like in the game. Coal on a stick won't burn forever. Heck, even if I did make those glorified matches, I wouldn't know how to get them to light anyway. All of my boyscout training for wilderness survival always relied on having outside resources, either matches, a lighter, flint and steel, or a battery and steel wool. I have none of those things, though I suppose I might be able to get my hands on flint and steel at some point here.

So fire is out. Glowstone and lava is the only thing I know of that naturally glows in Minecraft, but one requires a Nether portal to get any, and the other requires digging long and deep for since none of my Overlords spotted anything glowing in the distance last night. Makes sense really since exposed lava cools on its own anyway. With all ideas exhausted for an immediate light source, I turn to the next best thing. Hoping and praying that the Swarm has consumed a creature that glows in the dark before, and figuring out how to implement that into the swarm before darkness falls.

Biting my lip, I worry that I may not have enough time. I may have five hours of daylight left, but who knows how long it'll take to implement bio luminescence into the Swarm? That's when I get a wonderful idea, an awful idea. I just got a wonderfully awful idea. If I can't prevent the monsters from spawning in, then I'll just mow them down as they pop up! How will I go about this, one might ask? I have no Hydralisks or Mutalisks, and I don't quite dare trying to have Zerglings employ hit and run tactics on Creepers within the confines of the Hive. It's simple really. So simple I can't believe I didn't see it before.

Immediately, I set about having a Drone bring in a Spawning Pool, reflexively replacing the lost Drone with another. With that, I start the process of ringing the entire Creep with Creep colonies, putting them right on the edge of the Creep available. Another hour and a half into building the ring of Creep colonies, the Spawning Pool finished growing. To my delight, I have just enough income to keep up spawning in Drones and Creep colonies to start morphing the Creep colonies into Sunken Colonies. It'll be cutting it close, but I have just enough income to keep it up.

Judging by the size of the first Creep Colony, which is roughly the size of a two story house, it's going to take about twenty Creep Colonies to completely surround the Hive. At twenty minutes a pop to spawn them in, and with my income allowing me to spawn one with every new Drone produced, which also takes twenty minutes to spawn in, I should be finished with initially ringing the Creep colonies in… let's see, that three every hour… oh dear. It'll take me a little over six and a half hours to finish, and I only have about four and a half hours to finish this before night falls. I'm going to have to change my strategy if I want any kind of defense tonight.

Using some of my already existing Drones, I have them morph into Creep colonies as well. Now I just have to build two every twenty minutes rather than just one. Doing so causes my income to hit zero a few times, but it's necessary. Just in case, I stop sequentially making every Creep colony a Sunken Colony and instead make every other one a Sunken Colony. That solves the money issue nicely, and I should have a mostly finished ring of Creep colonies and sunken colonies by night fall. It should be just enough. It'll have to be enough.

Finally unable to put it off any longer, I order the Overlords to keep up what I'd been doing until the ring is finished, or as close as it can be with our resources. I also changed their earlier orders about the wall of Creep from forming it around the Hatcheries to forming it around the entire hive, leaving the Creep within the ring of Creep colonies alone. I wasn't sure if such control on the Creep could be done, but the Overlords didn't give me a negative reply to the order so I guess they can pull it off.

As for finishing the ring tonight… I contemplate ordering the Overlords to have some of the Drones keep gathering resources in the night, but then I remembered this morning's fiasco with the Drones unable to climb over the wall of Creep, so they wouldn't even be able to reach the resources anyway. Instead I just order the Overlords to finish the project as best they could with the funds available.

With that finished, I stumble to the nearest Hatchery and flop up against the wall and promptly pass out. Just before I do so, I have the presence of mind to make sure to order the Overlords to float up high enough to be out of teleport range of the Endermen, and to form up in positions between the hatcheries and the Creep colonies, that way the Endermen will always be under fire throughout the night, even if none of them will hit. Stupid preemptive… 'Yawn' teleporting abilities… make the stupid Endermen seem like th- 'YAWN' –ey have the Spider Sense… or something…

And with that I spent the rest of the day dreaming about a bunch of Endermen web swinging through the trees fighting crime and other random stuff while I caught up on my sleep.

**-Chapter End Review-**

**OVERMIND**

Health-50/50

Psi-Energy-10/100

Psi-Replenish-10pc

Control-10ucp

**Abilities**

Spawn Hatchery-100psi-2hours-1ucp

**ZERG SWARM LVL 1**

Bio-Energy-125

Bio-Replenish-200pc

Control used/provided-59/59

**Strains Available**

Larvae-0be-0:0:1-3 per Hatchery-25hp-10armor

Drone-50be-0:20:0-1ucr-40hp-5ga

Overlord-100be-0:40:0-8ucp

**Buildings Available**

Hatchery-300be-2:0:0-1ucp-1250hp-800 m creep gen

Extractor-50be-0:40:0-750hp

Creep Colony-75be-0:20:0-500hp-500 m creep gen

Sunken Colony-50be-0:20:0-300hp-40ga-700mr

Evolution Chamber-75be-0:40:0-750hp

Spawning Pool-200be-1:20:0-750hp

**SWARM COMPOSITION**

**Sentients-1**

Overmind

**Underlings-70**

2 Hatcheries

1 Spawning Pool

2 Creep Colonies

6 Overlords

59 Drones

**Vassals-0**

**Allies-0**

**REQUIREMENTS TO EVOLVE**

Spawning Pool –Completed-

-Swarm is ready to evolve-

A/N - Wow! I can't believe how many favorites and follows I'm getting! Crazy! I hope you're all enjoying the story and that I don't scare you off in later chapters, cause we're just getting started! OH! And before I forget, I also updated the Zerg Information Sheet to include the upgrades available to the Swarm. I'll be editing and adding more as the story goes along, especially once the Overmind starts messing around in the Evolution Chamber. ;)

Oh, and fair warning to all of you out there, I AM going to try and make this story not be a curb stomper, but I'm probably going to fail miserably at it, so I hope you can deal with that.

Turtwigle63 - Don't worry, I won't let flamers scare me off. :)

FtDLulz, New World Zero, S.R.457, - Thank you for the Reviews and I'm glad you're enjoying the story.

Special thanks to all those who have favorited and followed my story. I'd list your aliases but that would take too long, so here's a blanket thank you and a cookie!

-Edit- Don't worry about the reupload. Just fixed a typo or two that were really bugging me.


	5. Chapter 4

I jolted awake after a number hours of much needed sleep, and I'm feeling a lot better, though I could seriously do with a few more Z's, so just what woke me? Doing a reflexive check of the Swarm and the mental map, I note that night has already fallen enough that the sun's rays are gone, so I'd put it at probably an hour or two past sundown if not more.

Before I can start up on having the Overlords give me a mental download of all that's happened since I fell asleep, a noise that is WAY too close for comfort sounds off to my left, and I freeze, eyes wide, but very pointedly keeping my eyes pointed at the ground. I've got to be very careful how I handle this.

So far, the Enderman hasn't really done anything. I can see its feet out of the corner of my eye, and I can tell that it's at least on the other side of the room from me. I have no idea if it's noticed me or not, but at least it's not agro yet. The better question is, why the heck is it in here? I thought the Overlords were supposed to attract them all!?

Frantically, I order the Overlords to fill me in on what's been happening, even while I keep a careful peripheral eye on the Enderman. Who knows what it might grab if it gets close. It might warp away with my torso, leaving my limbs and head behind, or worse.

According to the playback of the mental map provided by the Overlords, they finished up 14 of the 20 Creep colonies, only ten of which are Sunken Colonies. The Overlords, to my delight, had used pragmatism when finishing the ring of colonies, so instead of having one chunk of the ring unfinished, there were only six open spots between the existing creep colonies, and the Sunken Colonies were all evenly created throughout the ring as well. If I weren't in mortal peril right now, I'd be inclined to run out and hug the lot of those Overlords for fulfilling my orders so pragmatically. I'd been worried they'd just do exactly as told and not respond to any outside stimulus or think for themselves, but my worries have been laid to rest on that front.

As for this Enderman wandering inside of my Hatchery, I can't blame the Overlords for not forseeing what would happen. Even I didn't, regardless of my knowledge of Minecraft. Evidently that 'spider sense' the Endermen have works almost too well. The Sunken Colonies had targeted all enemies within the walls of the Hive, and shoved their spike like tentacles through the ground to spear the lot from underneath. Unfortunately the Endermen have been warping away at the last moment, which surprises me since technically, the Sunken Colony's attack counts as a melee attack, not a ranged one. I know that it's technically a ranged attack, but technically so is a sword swing by about two to three feet if you want to be that facetious.

Either way, the Endermen warped off from the Sunken Colony's attacks, treating them as ranged rather than melee. This is good, since it means the Endermen didn't switch targets to the Sunken colonies, which would have been extremely bad if the Endermen had somehow killed them. However, this means that a couple of those Endermen, in particular this one, had warped inside my two Hatcheries and elsewhere throughout the few hours of the night. I was just so out of it before that this is the first one that actually woke me up as opposed to the first two, though I'm gratified to know that the things didn't come near me, and the first two almost immediately warped out. Only this one is hanging around for some reason.

First order of business is to stop the root of the problem, and I send a quick order to my Overlords to have the Sunken Colonies stop targeting Endermen. It's pointless to have the Overlords be out of reach bait for them if the Sunken Colonies can't even hit them.

With that issue out of the way, and no more Endermen threatening to randomly pop in to my Hatcheries, now I have to figure out what the heck to do with this one. How do I get it out of here?

That's when it hits me, and a devious evil grin slowly grows on my face. The Creep has been absorbing all sorts of nutrients and minerals and such, basically the buildings blocks of all life right? Well, water is one of the buildings blocks of life after all, and the Creep must have been absorbing water out of the air and the ground as well, and the Creep just happens to be carpeting the interior of EVERYTHING in the Hive.

Smirking deviously, since my Overmind side has confirmed my plan is doable, I chance directly looking at the Enderman. I'm almost shocked to see that it's been staring at me the entire time, with its head cocked to the side as if in deep thought, observing me. Even more surprising is the fact that it hasn't immediately opened its jaw and screeched like it did at the Overlords when I looked at it. Freakier still, is the fact that its eyes aren't glowing purple like the others, but white. This departure from the norm freaks me the hell out, and I immediately order the creep to dispel a layer of water over its surface. It's not an infinite source of water, but the Creep can reabsorb it and effectively use it over and over again.

The water reaches up to a few inches deep in just a few seconds, and the reaction is instantaneous. The Enderman with me, along with all its brothers outside, screeches in pain and hops about, screeching each time it touches the water. Interestingly, touching the water makes the Endermen more and more sluggish while it moves, and judging from its movements, I get the feeling that it can't actually warp away even though it's trying to do so. My Overlords are observing the same thing in the other Endermen, so it's not just me.

Finally, the Enderman gives one last keening wail that would do a banshee proud and has me covering my ears before keeling over dead and dissolving into the water. The black sludge in the water drifts towards me. Disturbed even further, I quickly have the Creep reabsorb the water, at least inside the Hatchery here. It takes a moment or two after that before the Creep also absorbs the remains of the Enderman, giving me a whopping ten bio-energy for my trouble.

Shaking slightly, I slump against the wall and sink slowly to the ground, eyes wide and unseeing. I don't think I'll be getting any more sleep tonight. That had been terrifying, but the implications are so much worse. After all, what else can I think when just before the Enderman died, its white eyes gave me one last penetrating look, before flashing back to purple?

No doubt about it, my stay here in the land of Minecraft just got a whole lot more complicated.

**-Chapter End Review-**

**OVERMIND**

Health-50/50

Psi-Energy-10/100

Psi-Replenish-10pc

Control-10ucp

**Abilities**

Spawn Hatchery-100psi-2hours-1ucp

**ZERG SWARM LVL 1**

Bio-Energy-125

Bio-Replenish-200pc

Control used/provided-59/59

**Strains Available**

Larvae-0be-0:0:1-3 per Hatchery-25hp-10armor

Drone-50be-0:20:0-1ucr-40hp-5ga

Overlord-100be-0:40:0-8ucp

Zergling-50be for 2-0:30:0-1ucr for 2-35hp-5ga

**Buildings Available**

Hatchery-300be-2:0:0-1ucp-1250hp-800 m creep gen

Extractor-50be-0:40:0-750hp

Creep Colony-75be-0:20:0-500hp-500 m creep gen

Evolution Chamber-75be-0:40:0-750hp

Spawning Pool-200be-1:20:0-750hp

Sunken Colony-50be-0:20:0-300hp-40ga-700mr

Hydralisk Den-200be-0:40:0-850hp

Lair-350be-1:40:0-1ucp-1800hp-900 m creep gen

**SWARM COMPOSITION**

**Sentients-1**

Overmind

**Underlings-82**

2 Hatcheries

1 Spawning Pool

4 Creep Colonies

10 Sunken Colonies

6 Overlords

59 Drones

**Vassals-0**

**Allies-0**

**REQUIREMENTS TO EVOLVE**

Spawning Pool –Completed-

-Swarm is ready to evolve-

A/N- Phew! Sorry for the long wait everyone! And thank you so much for all the people who have favorited and are following this story. My apologies for the super late update. I'd actually written the fourth chapter a while ago, but just as I was about to upload it to fanfiction, the loader thing told me that the document was in the wrong format or something to that effect. Confused, I checked to see, and determined that the chapter I'd just written and saved was in the correct format, but the entire chapter, all four pages of it, had wiped itself clean as if I hadn't written anything at all!

Needless to say, this completely threw me off of writing for a while. Not to mention I've been a bit stuck since I honestly hadn't liked how the fourth chapter turned out in the first place, and my muse, or whatever drives me to write, seemingly abandoned me. As much as I like to keep updating since I know how much I enjoy seeing stories I favorited being updated, I wasn't going to put you through having to read crappy writing just for the sake of posting something.

Finally though, my muse came back to me and I quickly typed this up. Ironically, this section is actually something that the original fourth chapter covered in two paragraphs, but then I realized that I left out a lot of potential for those two chapters alone.

Also, for those who are curious, I actually already have a pretty good idea of where this story is going to go, though there are certainly plenty of holes open to be filled in order to get to the part I'm aiming to reach. My main problem is that along the way, I'm going to end up introducing sentient characters, and if there's one thing I'm absolutely horrid at, it's writing conversations from multiple perspectives…


	6. Chapter 5

Despite my previous assertion, I was tired enough that I did end up falling asleep, but not before loading up one of my Overlords with roughly five Drones and having the thing hoof it off planet. Despite its speed determining that it wouldn't even reach the moon within a month let alone anywhere else during that time, I'm not about to continue on as I have been without some kind of fall back in mind. Not with the possibility of HIM being around.

That's right, HIM. I don't dare call him by his real name since I've heard that if you say his name three times aloud, it summons him, and I don't want to take that chance that even saying his name once might count towards saying his name three times. Reminds me of Beetlejuice actually, but at least he was just chaotic and kind of fun. There'd be nothing fun with me having to face HIM when I can't even handle one measly Zombie. I won't even chance thinking his name in my thoughts just in case.

Of course, it might not even matter since HE is obviously aware of my existence now. Then again, he didn't actually show up in his own form, so maybe he's stuck where he is until I actually do something that can summon him. I don't know. Whatever the reason, he isn't here, but I have to assume that he'll show up at some point, so I've got to prepare myself and the Swarm for that eventuality, and step up my game to an extreme degree. Dealing with spawning monsters is a far cry from dealing with what amounts to an evil Demi-Diety. I'd say Demigod, but God is a title I feel is already reserved and applies to no one, or nothing, else. Not even as a descriptive for a powerful being.

With the sun risen up, and my Bio-Energy having taken a jump from the Hatcheries absorbing the excess energy from the Creep not needed for general Swarm living, I set about increasing the Swarm, an Overmind with a purpose.

First order of business after breakfast, is this new information available from my Overmind side, letting me know that the Swarm is ready to evolve now that a Spawning Pool is available. Oddly enough though, the only thing needed to advance the Swarm to the next level is to just morph a Hatchery into a Lair. Nothing else. No mass hibernation for the entire Swarm, no massive mutations in store. Just a normal morphing of a Hatchery into a Lair to unlock the next tier of Zerg bio-tech. I almost feel disappointed, but at the same time I'm not surprised. More and more I'm getting the feeling that the Swarm is exactly what it was depicted as in the first game. Nothing more, nothing less, unless I change it.

I can't do much of anything, change wise, without an Evolution Chamber, and even then, I won't be able to truly access the full potential that is evolving the Swarm without a Cerebrate fully dedicated to said Evolution. I'm going to have to be careful on that one though since I don't want any Sentient Zerg getting the bright idea that the Swarm should be returned to its former status as the Blight on the Universe, consuming and destroying all. Not while I'm Overmind, thank you very much.

As soon as the Overlords complete their task in finishing the defensive ring of Creep Colonies, and the funds become available, I sink the Bio-Energy to morph both Hatcheries into Lairs at once, as well as start up morphing in an Evolution Chamber. Forty minutes, and I have a brand spanking new Evolution Chamber, and unfortunately there's no more room within the ring of Creep Colonies without severely congesting the Hive. Besides, I have plans already of sitting two more Hatcheries within the last space available. Call it habit, but whenever I played Zerg at home, I always ended up creating four Hives in a square formation to pump out the most units possible, since twelve larvae automatically created a Squad capable of being hotlinked. Old habits die hard I guess, even if I'd gotten out of that habit while playing Starcraft 2.

The most ironic thing though, is that I don't even really play Zerg all that often, if at all. I've always been a Protoss fan, so suddenly finding myself as the Overmind in charge of the Swarm has thrown me for a serious loop, since I'd always thought of them as evil insect creatures, but being the Overmind has given me a new perspective on the Swarm as a whole. The Swarm itself, in the end, boils down to simply reflect the will of the Overmind. The previous Overmind had been a shackled and perfection driven slave, raised as a Zerg and thus would have no concept of free will and equality among sentients.

I on the other hand, am practically the anti thesis of the original Overmind. Free will, choice, and equality are core parts of my very being, and the Zerg Swarm will grow to reflect that. I know that perfection is the ultimate unattainable goal, always out of reach, but something that should always be strived towards. I'm not shackled down in my own head like the original Overmind was. These facts, along with my new perspective as the Overmind, open before my sight the vast potential that the Swarm has, even more so than the original Swarm did, both for good and bad. It can only be of the good that being good is also core to my being as well.

While these thoughts whirled around in my head, an hour passed and my Lairs are now completed, along with the information that my Swarm is now at level two, though the number doesn't really mean much at all at the moment. To my chagrine, I noticed that I'd never taken the time to upgrade the Swarm at all, so the burrow ability is still sitting in the Lair's command list along with the three new Overlord upgrades. I immediately cued one Lair to upgrade Overlord speed while I had the other research the Burrow ability. Heaven knows being able to shoot into the ground in the blink of an eye would be extremely useful for escaping enemies. I wonder if I'll be able to use the ability myself, since it'll be a Swarm wide upgrade?

Unfortunately, the answer seems to be no for now, judging from the information my Overmind side is providing me. Evidently I'm still, for all intents and purposes, human, but with the mental capacity and presence of the Zerg Overmind. I guess Psionic ability isn't completely bound to the physical plane, otherwise my brain would probably be the size of two football stadiums right now. Lucky me!

With the upgrades from the Lairs in queue, I contemplated ordering up another upgrade from the Evolution Chamber as well, but decided to hold off on that until I'd explored the options available to me that having an Evolution Chamber offers.

The building itself looks like a giant log shaped turd laying on its side, with a tumor like protrusion jutting out of its middle and to the side. From this center protrusion is an opening where numerous black tentacles jut out from and are piercing into the Creep, resulting in a back and forth flow of nutrients and information, which is the mechanism that allows the Evolution Chamber to morph the Swarm since all Zerg feed off the Creep. That makes me wonder if the speed upgrade for the Overlord leaving the atmosphere at the moment will even take.

According to the Overmind side of me, it can and will. Evidently, upgrades for the Zerg are two fold, physical changes caused through consumption of the Creep, and any creature who doesn't get the upgrade that way, if it's within a certain range of the Zerg building initiating the upgrade, the building sends out a psionic pulse that forces the change on any Zerg creature within range of said building, usually planet wide, depending on the building.

Interestingly, this also explains why each time you started a new mission in game, you always had to research everything from scratch with new Zerg, since all the old Zerg would've been left behind to reinforce that particular Hive from the previous mission. I figured it was just a game mechanic to keep things interesting, but more and more, stuff from the game seems to be the real deal for the Swarm. How that works for the Terran and Protoss, I can only speculate on. I can only hope that I'll be able to improve on that so I won't have to worry about re-researching everything every time I start a new Hive on a new planet. That just seems extremely inefficient, even if it does make things more interesting.

Going back to the Evolution Chamber, I have to admit the thing has got to be one of the ugliest things I've ever seen, and it doesn't help that the opening where all the tentacles are coming out of doubles as the entrance to the building, AND looks like the opening of a sphincter. My only consolation is that I can feel the presence of the building itself in the back of my mind, and it's soothing. If I close my eyes, I'd describe the presence as that of a rather cute, if mutated, little puppy dog. How can you hate something that cute even if it does look ugly? Honestly, that's how most of the Zerg feel to me, though some seem more like cats, kittens, and other pets. I'm not kidding myself though, unless I'm going to somehow equate kitties with overwhelming ferocity and scythe like blades that can rip a man to pieces so fast he'll be nothing but a splatter all over the walls and floor.

Shuddering slightly, and bracing myself, I walk into the Evolution Chamber. Surprisingly, it's somewhat similar to the interior of the Hatchery, albeit slightly smaller, and consisting of two more chambers on each side of the central room. The center room is host to a miniature Spawning Pool, or what I'm assuming is a Spawning Pool since it looks exactly like the one outside.

To my left is a number of oblong flesh sacs that my Overmind side informs me holds a physical representation of the DNA strands of the Zerg Swarm. This is where a dedicated Cerebrate would go to work on manipulating the Swarm itself. Since I have no Cerebrate however, the room is nothing more than an interesting side note to me, even if I really wish that I could just go to work myself on it, but unless I wanted to dedicate all of my focus and attention on the evolution of the Swarm every single second, then I'd best not touch anything in there. Aggravating, but then I'm starting to get the feeling that the previous Overmind just didn't bother changing things that already worked, even if there were more efficient ways of going about them beforehand. Another mark of his apparent insanity and self imprisonment.

The other room to my right can hardly be called a room since you can't actually walk inside it. The chamber is filled with what looks like, to all intents and purposes, like a giant formless brain. This is the lesser Zerg being that is currently dedicated to the DNA strains of the Zerg. Unfortunately, it's capacity for doing anything outside of the pre-existing upgrades available is negligible. Just another reason I really need a dedicated Cerebrate for this. Unfortunately, I can't make any Cerebrates just yet. The requirement to make them is a whopping 1000 be, takes an entire month to morph, and is created by having 100 larvae morph together into one being all at once. And, that's just the Cerebrates as they were before, as giant formless slug things.

That's not even considering any specialized Cerebrates or any possible changes I might do in the future. Unfortunately, a Cerebrate dedicated to Zerg evolution IS a specialized Cerebrate, and while that requires the original Cerebrate slug thing as a base, after that, any evolutions to become a specialized Cerebrate are entirely up to the Cerebrate itself, so I have no idea how long it could take, or what is required or anything! Talk about aggravating!

Sighing, I step back out of the Evolution Chamber, ordering it to start up on the Level One Carapace Armor Upgrade. I'd been kinda hoping to at least apply some kind of bioluminescence to the Swarm to minimize the monsters capability to spawn in, but it looks like any plans for evolution outside of what the Zerg is already capable of has to be put on hiatus for the moment.

As of now, the only thing I really can do is expand the size of the Hive itself. Only way to do that is to create more Creep Colonies. After thinking on it for a moment, I decide on a plan and order the Overlords to see to the creation of concentric rings of Creep colonies surrounding the Hive, with every ring consisting of Sunken Colonies with alternating Spore Colonies. I figure five rings ought to do it when it comes to having enough space for the rest of the buildings required to upgrade the Swarm, and it'll allow the spreading of the Creep without sacrificing the much needed defensive Creep Wall. I also ordered the Overlords to use their judgement when it comes to where to place new Hive Clusters on the planet, which will consist of four Hatcheries per cluster.

Speaking of which, the first thing I had my Overlords do even before that, is to create two more Hatcheries to complete this Hive Cluster before they move on to the colony rings. In the end, I'm picturing in my mind a group of Hive clusters, even consisting of four Hives in the Center with a Spawning Pool and Evolution Chamber, and Second ring around that holding the rest of the Zerg buildings, and three rings around that, all evenly spaced with enough room to allow an Ultralisk to easily maneuver through, but each ring is also placed so that you can't get Line of Sight to the Hives in the Center, sort of like interlocked gears of bricks stacked on top of each other, only if you stare straight past one ring, you'll only see the colonies of the next ring in, and maybe glimpses of the ring after that.

Of course, this is all moot point in the face of aerial and space combat, but it'll do wonders against ground forces. That makes me wonder if I'll ever end up meeting the Protoss or Terrans. In the end, I'd like to be able to figure out a way back home to my family at least, but I have no idea whatsoever where Earth might be from here. For all I know, my Earth might not even be in this dimension, or worse, even in this reality or parallel. Who really knows? For now, all I can do is focus on surviving this world, and praying I don't somehow summon HIM anytime soon, preferably not at all.

**-Chapter End Review-**

**OVERMIND**

Health-50/50

Psi-Energy-20/100

Psi-Replenish-10pc

Control-10ucp

**Abilities**

Spawn Hatchery-100psi-2hours-1ucp

**ZERG SWARM LVL 2**

Bio-Energy-85

Bio-Replenish-600pc

Control used/provided-59/61

**Strains Available**

Larvae-0be-0:0:1-3 per Hatchery-25hp-10armor

Drone-50be-0:20:0-1ucr-40hp-5ga

Overlord-100be-0:40:0-8ucp

Zergling-50be for 2-0:30:0-1ucr for 2-35hp-5ga

**Buildings Available**

Hatchery-300be-2:0:0-1ucp-1250hp-800 m creep gen

Extractor-50be-0:40:0-750hp

Creep Colony-75be-0:20:0-500hp-500 m creep gen

Evolution Chamber-75be-0:40:0-750hp

Spore Colony-50be-0:20:0-400hp-15aa-700mr

Spawning Pool-200be-1:20:0-750hp

Sunken Colony-50be-0:20:0-300hp-40ga-700mr

Hydralisk Den-200be-0:40:0-850hp

Lair-350be-1:40:0-1ucp-1800hp-900 m creep gen

Spire-500be-2:0:0-600hp

Queens Nest-300be-1:0:0-850hp

**SWARM COMPOSITION**

**Sentients-1**

Overmind

**Underlings-91**

4 Lairs

1 Spawning Pool

1 Evolution Chamber

20 Sunken Colonies

6 Overlords

59 Drones

**Vassals-0**

**Allies-0**

**REQUIREMENTS TO EVOLVE**

Queen's Nest

A/N – Well there you have it, two chapters in one. Originally these past two chapters were chapter four alone, but like I said last chapter, I realized I'd left a lot of potential writing alone, so I fleshed out this chapter a lot! I hope you enjoy it, because I sure enjoyed writing it! Now I just have to wonder what exactly the Overmind should be doing while the Overlords take care of expanding the Swarm itself… I've got a few ideas, but I always welcome suggestions! I've already incorporated a few into the story in later chapters actually. After all, mods are a part of Minecraft too. *grins*


	7. Chapter 6

I sighed as I stared up at the sky. There's no way around it. New world, new circumstances, and I'm completely surrounded by Zerg. Despite it, there's no way around it. I'm BORED. I always hated having nothing to do, and with my Overlords automating the expansion of the Swarm for me, I've got absolutely nothing to do!

Last night went without a hitch. Monsters were killed, Endermen drawn off by the Overlord bait, and no surprise proxy visits from HIM either. I can't help but shudder remembering those white eyes from the night before last.

Anyways, I can easily foresee this becoming rather routine, I'm already sick of it, and I've only been awake for an hour this morning! Now, if I were at home, I'd usually just browse youtube or fanfiction to occupy my time, but that requires a computer, which I don't have here. Gotta figure out something before I go crazy!

Sitting up, I stare impassively at the Overlords as they hover over the incomplete second ring of Creep Colonies. I wonder if going flying as one of them would be any fun? Almost immediately I dismiss the thought. That might've been fun if the Overlords weren't so slow.

An absolutely crazy idea enters my mind, but I almost immediately dismiss it. Tarzan swinging from Overlord to Overlord via their tendrils may be fun, but it certainly sounds like a good way to get myself killed. Besides, I'm afraid of heights, or at least have a fear of falling anyway since climbing up and chilling on the top of my first Lair doesn't even phase me anymore.

Flying does sound like fun though. Maybe once that second ring gets finished, along with it's alternating spore and sunken colonies, I can put down a Spire and go zipping around as a Mutalisk. That should be pretty fun!

Sighing, I put that idea on hold though. Despite the Overlords increasing their own ranks as well as that of the Drones on their own per my orders, it'll still take them most of the day to get that second ring finished. My Overlords inform me that the second ring will have anywhere between 35 to 50 creep colonies, so it may even take until tomorrow to finish. So the Spire is out.

Come on! Need to do something… there's the Spawning pool… Zerglings? I could always make a couple. It'd be nice to have some pets to play with, and they could double as body guards in case anything like what happened two nights ago happens again.

Quickly, I morph in a pair, thankful that it only costs 25 be so it shouldn't cause the Overlord's progress any problems. Unfortunately, I have to wait an entire half hour until they're finished birthing. I spent that time gently poking and petting the egg sac, watching it quiver and ripple under my touch. I'm surprised something so tough and armored can be so responsive.

The egg rupturing from within almost took me by surprise, so lost was I in my fascination with the egg sac. Next thing I knew, I had two Zerglings practically jumping on me, slobbering my face with their tongues. Laughing, I brought up my arms to my face to protect from the slobber attack, and they jumped back as soon as I told them to stop. Wiping my face and arms of the drool, I grinned. It seems these Zerglings are reacting to the exact reason why I created them, to be my playmates!

Indulging in my boredom and inner child, I started playing with the Zerglings. They're a bit larger than I expected. I always thought it was weird that they were only the size of small dogs in the previews for Starcraft Ghost, and you can't really get a good idea of scale, no matter how close you zoom in on the map in Starcraft 2.

The Lings are half the size of Utahraptors, putting them up to my waist in size. Their eyes are a nightmarish glowing yellow with slits for pupils. Actually, everything about them is a bit nightmarish, and I might've been slightly scared of them due to that if not for their very enthusiastic greeting and extreme puppy like behavior. They want to play, and I can't help but indulge them since that was the reason I called them into being in the first place!

So I spent the day with my new Zerglings, playing tag, fetch, exploring, and a number of other things as soon as they caught our fancy. It was rather fun, and it tired me out rather quickly. Zerglings, and all Zerg it seems, are near inexhaustible, so the day hadn't even finished before the Lings had completely worn me out. The pair ended up picking me up, a feat I was surprised they could pull off, especially since those giant scythe like claws on their back are so sharp looking, it shocked me that they could be so gentle as to pick me up without giving me a scratch.

They set me down, clothes and all, into the stream to soak. The water is a bit cold, but I got over that pretty quickly, and watched bemused as the Zerglings splashed and chased each other throughout the water, chittering the entire time. If my days can be spent like this, then I guess I won't be so bored after all.

**-Chapter End Review-**

**OVERMIND**

Health-50/50

Psi-Energy-30/100

Psi-Replenish-10pc

Control-10ucp

**Abilities**

Spawn Hatchery-100psi-2hours-1ucp

**ZERG SWARM LVL 2**

Bio-Energy-45

Bio-Replenish-600pc

Control used/provided-80/125

**Strains Available**

Larvae-0be-0:0:1-3 per Hatchery-25hp-10armor

Drone-50be-0:20:0-1ucr-40hp-5ga

Overlord-100be-0:40:0-8ucp

Zergling-50be for 2-0:30:0-1ucr for 2-35hp-5ga

**Buildings Available**

Hatchery-300be-2:0:0-1ucp-1250hp-800 m creep gen

Extractor-50be-0:40:0-750hp

Creep Colony-75be-0:20:0-500hp-500 m creep gen

Evolution Chamber-75be-0:40:0-750hp

Spore Colony-50be-0:20:0-400hp-15aa-700mr

Spawning Pool-200be-1:20:0-750hp

Sunken Colony-50be-0:20:0-300hp-40ga-700mr

Hydralisk Den-200be-0:40:0-850hp

Lair-350be-1:40:0-1ucp-1800hp-900 m creep gen

Spire-500be-2:0:0-600hp

Queens Nest-300be-1:0:0-850hp

**SWARM COMPOSITION**

**Sentients-1**

Overmind

**Underlings-91**

4 Lairs

1 Spawning Pool

1 Evolution Chamber

20 Sunken Colonies

14 Overlords

79 Drones

2 Zerglings

**Vassals-0**

**Allies-0**

**REQUIREMENTS TO EVOLVE**

Queen's Nest

A/N- Wow, I can't believe I actually updated so fast! Seems my muse is going strong for the moment. I've got a particular scene I really want to write, but it can really only be done by spreading the Creep out of the forest, and since this is a large biome, that could take up to a month, or I could have the Overmind go exploring beyond the Creep for sheer something to do. Stupid villages, why do they have to only spawn in Plains Biomes?

Now on to answering reviews, and thank you all for the favorites, follows, and of course the reviews! I always thought it silly how some authors reacted to reviews, but I'm starting to really understand how gratifying feedback like this is. Thank you all!

Beyogi, S.R.457, thank you for reviewing, and special thanks to Winter Feline for reviewing every chapter. I like the feedback! Once again, thank you, and feel free to shoot me suggestions. I'm only one guy, so having ideas thrown out there that I can incorporate into the story is very helpful! I'm even thinking of later in the story, if there are enough suggestions, adding a council of Cerebrates who offer those same suggestions themselves. Maybe I'll even name those Cerebratesss with the name of the suggestee. Just a thought.

DaLintyMan – Well, there are two answers to your question about why Spore Colonies when there are no air units. First, is that there is one flying unit the Overmind has to worry about, and that would be HIM. I'm sure you can guess who HE is. Who else in Minecraft has glowing white eyes? Second, well, if you haven't guessed already, my Overmind character is actually based off of myself. I was a Boyscout, so I hold to the motto of 'Be Prepared' quite closely, and you never know what I might end up facing that'll require me needing AA defenses. Sorry if you dislike SI's, but in my defense, this story is what I like to call a true SI. This isn't the author written in character form. This is simply a character based off myself, who only has knowledge of things beyond the fourth wall from before he entered the story, so while I've played Heart of the Swarm (and been disappointed in the story of it), the character hasn't, and while HotS answers my Lurker problem quite nicely, my character isn't going to know that, so in the end, he'll probably make his own version of Lurkers that are nothing like Lurkers at all. But that's way down the line since he requires a Cerebrate first.

FtDlulz – Your suggestion has merit. Only problem is when I say perspectives, I don't mean I'll be switching from one persons view to another in the story. I mean that it's difficult for me to remember that each character has to have their own personality, goals, and actions. Often times while I'm writing multiple characters, I'll lose sight of that and conversations will start to sound less like conversations and more like talking to myself. It's rather debilitating to my writing since writing a story where the main character is by himself the entire time isn't going to be anymore interesting than writing a story filled with different aspects of the author.


End file.
